When taping begins, the control room is on the edge of their seats. "What we're about to tape is very, very sensitive powerful territory," Sheri says. "I feel very confident that he's going to go there. I think he's really going to put his real heart on the line."

As the tape of the president's interview with his parents runs, President Bush tears up. "We've created an interview that he will remember forever and has really touched him clearly," Brian says. "That's amazing. Who gets to do that? It meant a lot to all of us."

Watch that interview

The conversation eventually turns to Katrina, and President Bush addresses his response and discusses what it was like to be called a racist. "Nothing feels worse than someone saying something about you that is absolutely untrue," Oprah says. "I saw him as a human being, not just a man carrying the role of the most powerful man in the world." 

What President Bush had to say about Hurricane Katrina, September 11 and more